By:
Ryan Barath
December 20, 2022
Sweetens Cove offers a mess of how to navigate it, but it surely’s the expansive greens that dictate the very best route and problem you to be daring.
Ryan Barath
At GOLF.com, our passion can be our job. Meaning, similar to you, we spend a lot of the yr teeing it up excessive, swinging exhausting and making an attempt to keep away from double bogeys. However some programs we come upon are merely extra memorable than others. Right here, for the second straight yr, we unveil our favourite public programs we performed in 2022.
ICYMI: Why this straightforward Scottish course was my favourite I performed in 2022
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I understand that is going to sound loopy however I don’t play loads of golf outdoors of my geographical location, so any likelihood I get to play someplace particular I bounce on the alternative. For 2022, that chance was to play at Sweetens Cove Golf Membership in South Pittsburg, Tenn.
The well-known signal that welcomes golfers.
Ryan Barath
The chance to play got here due to an invite to a multiple-day occasion from my buddy Peter, and it took no time for me to answer: “Sure!” And though it was by invitation, there isn’t any want to fret, Sweetens after all is public.
For these nonetheless unaware, Sweetens Cove is the darling of the golf course nerd world thanks partially to its extraordinarily fascinating set of greens, off-the-beaten-path location, simplicity and expansive capability to benefit from the course in so many various and imaginative methods.
Earlier than I made the 14-hour drive from Toronto to South Pittsburg, loads of my common {golfing} buddies requested if I’d get bored taking part in a 9-hole course for 3 days straight, however the reality is you could possibly in all probability play it for every week and nonetheless not fairly perceive it in its entirety.
What separates Sweetens from any golf expertise that I’ve ever had is the distinction between the seriousness of the way in which the sport is loved to the relaxed ambiance that the course presents. Everybody there needs you to have enjoyable, and they’re there to facilitate the experiences from solar as much as solar down, even in case you stroll off with extra three-putts than you’d prefer to admit. Wait, is three-putting enjoyable? It’s at Sweetens.
The view from behind the third gap.
Christian Hafer
From tee-to-green, the course offers a mess of how to navigate it, but it surely’s the expansive greens that not solely dictate the very best path to take however problem you to be daring. Relying on the pin placements, they’re among the most diabolical you may think about, however don’t ever name them unfair.
To be unfair means to be deceitful, however the problem at Sweetens Cove is true there in entrance of you — you simply have to determine how you’re going to design your individual journey on each gap.
The strategy to the eighth inexperienced.
Ryan Barath
For me, the very best and worst is the eighth gap, a Street Gap template primarily based on the seventeenth at St Andrews that asks the query of how near do need to put your self towards the hazard to make your subsequent shot simpler? The hazard on this case is a pond that guards the left facet of the golf green and temps you to take it on, and even then the pond nonetheless guards the entrance of the inexperienced. I beloved each a part of the eighth gap — regardless that it ate my lunch each likelihood it bought.
Having enjoyable taking part in golf to me isn’t about taking pictures a profession rating or amassing bag tags from Prime 100 programs (though I’m at all times open to an invitation), it’s about overcoming the problem you might be offered and having enjoyable with associates alongside the way in which. For that motive taking part in Sweetens Cove with so many nice folks makes it my favourite place I performed all yr.
Golf.com Editor
Ryan Barath is GOLF Journal and GOLF.com’s senior editor for gear. He has an in depth club-fitting and -building background with greater than 20 years of expertise working with golfers of all ability ranges, together with PGA Tour gamers. Earlier than becoming a member of the workers, he was the lead content material strategist for Tour Expertise Golf, in Toronto, Canada.